1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading and displaying apparatus which is portable and capable of simultaneously reading and visually observing images.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been disclosed an image reading apparatus that is conventional technology in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 3-276250 (1991). According to that publication, an image on an object is inputted by a scanner which is manually moved, for display and storage. Specifically, a display is provided on a top face of a main body of an image reading apparatus. Further, one side face of the main body is a scanner face which constitutes a so-called line sensor. In order to read the image, the scanner face is pushed against an object on which an image is drawn and manually moved (scanned) on the object in contact with the object, while the main body of the image reading apparatus is held by hand. The read image is binarized to be displayed and stored. According to the art of the publication, a light source is provided, from which light is irradiated on the object. The light reflected from the object enters the line sensor via an optical system.
According to the art of the publication, since the display is provided on the top face of the main body of the image reading apparatus and an image is read by the side face of the main body, it is difficult to confirm the read image while scanning. Accordingly, an error in reading is apt to be noticed after finishing the reading operation and the reading operation must be carried out again. Also, the light source is indispensable for reading images which gives rise to an increase in power consumption. Furthermore, scanning accuracy is deteriorated since the main body of the image reading apparatus is manually moved to read one image.
Further, in the case where an image of a large area which requires an operation ranging in plural steps is read, the scanning must be performed in due order, for example, from an upper scanning region, such that a part of a scanning region overlaps a part of the next region. Thus, many restrictions are imposed on the scanning operation with the result that the apparatus is inconvenient to use. Additionally since data must be read overlappingly, a large capacity of memory is needed.